Fall in Tennessee

One of the things we lament about being away from the West is the inaccesability to the mountains. Oh we really miss them. The Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee are beautiful but they're 6 hours away. We DID find a small forested area that had some gentle hiking climbs just about half an hour away from downtown Memphis. We got some solitude and got to play in the stream.

We want all of our Utah and Ohio friends to know that it is December in Memphis and we are enjoying a beautiful autumn. We've tried to imagine what y'all are up to this time of year. Whether it's sloshing through street slush or pooring buckets of hot water on your car to melt the ice over your windshield, we're sure you're enoying yourselves. Haha. Meanwhile we're still occasionally wearing flip flops and short sleeves. Thank heaven for the Dixie Heartland.

Max and his friends try to participate in a responsible grown-up job in our backyard. Somehow when they get ahold of the rake the leaves seem to spread out instead of make themselves into a pile. Curious.

Happy Halloween

We had fun dressing up for the holiday. Max "bearly" kept his hat on for the picture. He actually loved cuddling with his costume when it WASN'T on him, but hated it on his head. (Sarah wants people to know that this is NOT a beer in Ryan's hand.)

Ryan tried to bring some holiday cheer to his patients at the hospital. He was the only one that dressed up. He got some smiles and at other times got looks like "Is that doctor really going to treat me?"

This is the mischievous "I'm about to do something naughty" look. Thanks to Mom Jeffery for capturing this moment.

Max's first word was "doggie." He adores his stuffed animal that is affectionately called "Cruiser" since he was purchased on our cruise holiday to Mexico last year. We first knew that Max was following directions when we told him to "Go find Cruiser."

Holiday to Utah

Sarah and Max flew out to Utah for these last couple of weeks to be with Sarah's sister, who just had a healthy baby girl (Abby is the cutest). Sarah took advantage of the time out there and spent several days with both of our families. All of our extended family gushed over Max because they hardly ever get to see him.

As usual, Max got to be the center of attention. The scene below was no exaggeration. The flashes of cameras were incessant and the narrating of home movies was non-stop. His life might as well be a documentary...there IS enough footage.

The timing of this picture was quite serendipitous to capture the exact moment of Max tipping over the bowl of water and apples. He had merely been splashing the water around. Since everyone was laughing, he must have taken courage to get a little more bold and throw the whole bowl over and ruin the dehydrating project.

Max got to spend time with his new cousin Abby. Although he is smiling in this picture, Max was really quite jealous and indignant about having to share the spotlight with a new face. Maybe this is a sign that he's not quite ready for a sibling of his own. :)

Spending time with cousin Elijah. They look to be future wrestling compadres.

Max's 1 Year Birthday

This post is a little belated. Life seems to get pretty busy. On August 1, Max celebrated his first birthday. He has learned so many new things this year.

These are some of Max's friends in our backyard. The older kids were good sports to sit in the kiddie pool.

In choosing how we would decorate his first birthday cake, we thought of what was Max's most prized possession...his dad's Blackberry phone. So that's what he got.

Somehow we were not surprised at the transposition of cake from platter to face.

And the video below has nothing to do with his birthday party, but you can hear his contagious giggle as he frolicks in the man-made rainstorm at the botanical gardens.

Beautiful Botany

This week we had a fun adventure at the Memphis Botanical Gardens. We were delighted to see that something within Memphis honestly can be described as beautiful. There were expansive lawns and manicured flowers, trees, and hedges. If any of you come to visit us, we'll probably take you to this place just so that you think we're living in a great city.

Max loved the sandbox. When he saw the dinosaur he flapped his arms and hands, pointed to it with an outstretched finger, and clamored "Oouu Oouu."

At the Japanese Gardens we found some geese who were interested in our fish food. Max flapped his arms with glee, even as the geese menacingly hissed and tried to scare us, as if that would make us surrender our fish food. (Notice how Max zones everything around him out when he notices the camera.)

We finally got to use our fish food for the fish. The coi weren't the only ones who appreciated these nutritious snacks. Watch on.

Choppin' it up

For all of those that are new to tree felling, we've created a step by step breakdown of how to get the job done, based on our experience.

1--Survey the damage created by the tornado that rips into your town 2 weeks after you arrive. You may have desires to vomit after you notice that even though you are paying for home insurance with your new house, it costs two month's groceries to reach the deductible.

2--If your tree is mammoth like ours, you may have to borrow a 24 foot extension ladder from a neighbor (thank you Bro Jones) to reach the first branches. You'll then have to climb about 15 feet higher to get to where the broken branches are.

3--Tie yourself to the tree with a high-quality borrowed nylon rope (thanks Bro Jones) that, if you should lose your footing and fall, may break but at least will soften your blow to the ground.

4--Tie another rope onto a nearby branch and attach the other end to a hammer, which you will throw down below for your wife to catch.

5--Your wife will remove the hammer and tie on the chainsaw that you have borrowed (from Bro Jones). Hoist the chainsaw into the tree.

6--Attempt to start the chainsaw on the precarious footing in the tree. After the first near-fall your life will flash before your eyes. When you give up, lower the chainsaw back down to your wife.

7--Encourage the wife to start the chainsaw from below.

8--When your wife fails, climb down the ladder and show her how to start a chainsaw.

9--When you fail to show your manly skills, return the chainsaw to a real man (thank you Bro Jones) to show you that there is indeed nothing wrong with the chainsaw and it can be easily started.

10--Start the chainsaw on the ground, then climb the ladder and the tree. Hoist the running chainsaw into the tree and rest it genty on a limb for a moment. Tie another rope to the branch about to be sawed off and throw the end of the rope down to your wife to pull..away from the house.

11--Saw off the damaged branches.

12--Groan as one of the branches, despite your efforts, slams into your roof, tears up some shingles, and damages the gutters.

13--Saw down the branches into firewood.

14--Haul the remaining branches to the street for the city to remove.

15--Sip some lemonade in the backyard as you look at the work you've done (over the course of 4 days) and dream about next Saturday's project--fixing the roof.

New House Pics

Yeah! We finally are finished with most of the fix-me-up projects around the house. Perhaps Max is most excited about it. For much of the past two weeks he has been quarantined in the piano room so that he didn't go exploring onto the exposed tack strips or dip his hands into the opened paint cans (which he successfully did).

This is our new tile floor entryway. We chiseled out the old pink tile (don't ask me what the original builders were thinking when they put in pink) and put in this new stuff. It turned out to be an all day project.

Below is the front room. You can see bits of the piano room and Sarah's yellow kitchen with white cabinets.

Below is the master bedroom. Ahh, we love the space.


Below is the master bathroom. Its got fun textured walls that replaced the yucky wallpaper that you saw in the previous post. This room might have taken the most work on a per square foot basis. We were happy with the result.

It's time to celebrate!